The “fireside chats” were a series of informal radio speeches delivered by president Roosevelt beginning in 1933, when the US was in the midst of the Great Depression and a third of Americans were unemployed. With his calm manner and simple way of explaining issues, Roosevelt discussed such issues as the banking crisis, the New Deal program, and the drought. During WWII, he reported on the progress of the war and discussed national defense. How many fireside chats did he deliver in all? Discuss
Vaslav Nijinsky (1890)
Nijinsky was a ballet dancer and ballet’s first modernist choreographer. One of the greatest dancers of the 20th century, he performed spectacular leaps with unrivaled grace. During his career, his innovations were considered both scandalous and revolutionary. He had a romantic relationship with his mentor, Sergey Diaghilev, who dismissed him from the Ballets Russes when he married a Hungarian countess. A few years later, acute schizophrenia ended his career. Did he and Diaghilev ever reconcile? Discuss
The Eye of Providence
Often interpreted as the eye of God watching over man, the Eye of Providence depicts an eye enclosed in a triangle and surrounded by rays of light. Found on the back of the US one-dollar bill, the Eye was adopted as part of the country’s Great Seal in 1782. While the symbol in its modern form emerged in the West in the 17th and 18th centuries, representations of an all-seeing eye existed in ancient Egypt. Conspiracy theorists trace the Eye’s inclusion in the Great Seal to its use by what group? Discuss
Mikhail Gorbachev Becomes Leader of the Soviet Union (1985)
In 1985, after the death of the third Soviet leader in two years, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, ushering in an era of political reform with his policies of glasnost and perestroika. He cultivated warmer relations with the US and others and even supported the democratically elected governments that replaced the communist regimes of eastern Europe. In 1991, he resigned the presidency of the USSR, which ceased to exist the same day. How did his own policies lead to the end of his administration? Discuss
Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider (1915)
In the 1950s, Licklider—who had studied math and physics and had a doctorate in psychology—began studying information technology. He was appointed head of information processing at ARPA, the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, in the early 60s. There, he laid the groundwork for computer networking and ARPANET, the precursor of the Internet. He is considered one of the most important figures in computing history and is often compared to what historical trailblazer? Discuss
Coconut Crabs
A hermit crab, the coconut crab is remarkable for its massive pincers as well as its sheer size—it is the world’s largest known terrestrial arthropod. Unlike most hermit crabs, coconut crabs cannot swim. Instead of gills, they possess a special organ called a branchiostegal lung, which is suited to absorb oxygen from air rather than water but must be kept moist if it is to function. Why is this type of crab popularly associated with the coconut? Discuss
French Foreign Legion Founded (1831)
The French Foreign Legion is a unit of the French Army largely composed of foreigners and commanded by French officers. It was created by King Louis Phillipe in 1831 to keep potential dissidents busy fighting for France rather than against it. Because enlistment historically required no official identification, many criminals joined under assumed names to hide their unsavory backgrounds. What are the two ways foreign-born legionnaires can earn the right to apply for French citizenship? Discuss
Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (1844)
Sarasate was a Spanish violinist and composer. He began studying the violin with his bandmaster father at age five, and at his first public concert at age eight, he impressed a wealthy patron and was sent to study in Madrid. There, Queen Isabel II gave him the Stradivarius violin that he would play for the rest of his life. He made his Paris debut in 1860 and commenced touring the world. He wrote scores of brilliant virtuoso works, some of which are still played today. Where are his violins now? Discuss
Shrunken Heads
The Shuar people of Ecuador and Peru first came to worldwide attention in the 1800s, after Westerners discovered that the group practiced head shrinking. The custom stems from the belief that severing an enemy’s head and shrinking it harnesses the person’s spirit and compels it to serve the shrinker. Though cultural restrictions limited the manufacture of shrunken heads, Western demand for the macabre artifacts prompted the Shuar to produce them in greater quantities. How does one shrink a head? Discuss
Vita Sackville-West (1892)
Sackville-West was an aristocratic English writer and gardener who married the diplomat and author Harold Nicolson in 1913. Their complicated relationship is chronicled in Portrait of a Marriage, a biography inspired by her journals and written by their son Nigel. The gardens at Sissinghurst Castle, which she designed, are among the most visited in England. However, she is perhaps best remembered for her love affair with author Virginia Woolf, which inspired which of Woolf’s novels? Discuss